Law in braille

Fiji School for the Blind student Veronica Narayan reads the braille version of the Constitution as Terence O'Neill-Joyce from the A-G's Office looks on. Picture: Jone Luvenitoga

I WANT to be a prime minister one day.

This was the determined sentiment of enthusiastic Sabina Moce, an 11-year-old partially visually-impaired young girl who yesterday got one step closer to achieving her big dream — her ability to read the Constitution using the tips of her fingers.

Sabina is among the 8000 people in the country, either fully or partially visually-impaired, who got the opportunity to read the supreme law of the land released in the braille version, and launched by Prime Minister Rear Admiral Voreqe Bainimarama at the Fiji School for the Blind.

"You can read for yourself the new blueprint for Fiji that we launched with such optimism seven months ago and which is taking us to the first genuine democracy in our history on September 17," Rear Admiral Bainimarama said.

He said the Constitution belonged to every Fijian, no matter who they were or where they came from.

"It is inclusive. And no other Constitution in Fijian history has been widely available in anything other than the English language. Not the 1970 Constitution. Nor the 1990 and 1997 Constitutions that were simply unjust, in that some Fijians were designated as being more equal than others, some people deserved more rights than others."

He told the students that they had the opportunity that everyone else had to comprehend the blueprint for the new and better Fiji.

"And I hope that as you do so, you share my excitement about the future that lies ahead of us as a nation."